By Tom Cooper

In southern California there probably have been as many 'Beaumont' Macadamia trees planted than any other variety. This represents a considerable number of trees. However, there has been practically no information about how to harvest this tree.

The 'Beaumont' Macadamia variety was a seed selection brought from Australia by Dr. J. H. Beaumont of the Hawaiian research program more than 50 years ago. It failed the test as a commercial variety because it has a condition called "stick tight." This means that the nuts do not readily fall from the tree when they are ripe. There are several problems that ensue as a result of this stick tight condition. Let me assure you that these nuts, if handled and processed correctly, are as good a quality Macadamia nut as any others grown.

The 'Beaumont' tree flowers and sets its annual crop in March-April. As this tree adjusts its cargo of new nuts, later in the year if the tree finds that it can produce more, this due to many factors of health and environment, then it will bloom again and produce more crop. It is capable of doing this 2 to 3 additional times before the original spring crop is ready to be harvested. This process is called "off-bloom." The off-bloom crop tends to be smaller both in nut set as well as the size of the new nuts than the spring set, and each successive set smaller than the other.

Then comes the problem; since the spring crop tends to hang on the tree past its normal drop time, a wasteful thing occurs. The nut's shell opens allowing oxygen to enter causing it to become cyanogenic (bitter tasting due to the chemical change producing the chemical cyanide). This is called pre-germination. When this occurs it is an attempt of the nut to grow while still attached to the parent tree.

Persons who lack knowledge about the 'Beaumont' Macadamia tree, but who have gained some information elsewhere of Macadamia having been told never to harvest or pick nuts from macadamias as the nuts have to fall to the ground of their own volition or they are not ripe. Generally this is true but not in all instances. I have picked many varieties of Macadamia to use as seed nuts (with almost a 100% success rate of germination when picked or removed from the tree).

The 'Beaumont' previous spring crop is ready to harvest when the new spring bloom appears and commences the extension of the flower raceme or stem, usually about March 1^st. The racemes can extend as much as 12 to 15 inches, but you should commence your picking after about a 3 inch extension occurs throughout the whole tree. Picking can be accomplished by hand or by whatever tools are at hand to assist in separating the nuts from the stems. I have fabricated some four-pronged rakes that are attached to aluminum swimming pool cleaning poles that allow an average sized person to knock off nuts 25 feet up in the tree. Be careful not to damage or knock off large amounts of the flower racemes or limbs, as this could affect the next season’s crop. (I have even considered training a small monkey to this job, providing he was locked up for the rest of the season.)

The consequence of strip picking will be, as I call it, the normalizing of this tree. Forcing it to become more like other varieties. Once you have strip-picked the tree or trees you must persist in this format from this time forward. Let it go one season and the tree will return to its own lazy behavior. Pick as I recommend, and you will reap the benefits in large, very tasty , Macadamia nuts that can be processed in many ways for your gourmet tastes. Don't pick and you will have nuts suitable only for a beaded Macadamia necklace.

I have introduced a new hybrid variety in San Diego County called the 'Cooper' which generally has the same behavior as the 'Beaumont,' with one exception - it does not off bloom. This tree grows upright and is relatively compact (15feet diameter), and nuts form in large clusters throughout the whole tree each year. I am able to strip-pick this tree in 20 minutes, once a year, using only the rake and pruning shears and a six-foot ladder!